Finished projects

Looking back over the pictures of what I've completed this summer I've realized I've managed to get several projects finished up.  The biggest project was my challenge quilt for the Stretching Art 2013 Challenge.    

I love participating in this annual challenge because it always challenges me to try something new.   This year it was the use of raw-edged woven and quilted strips for the center of the quilt.    To work with this years theme was "Here Am I" I had fun looking for charms and buttons that fit a part of my life and me.   There are charms/buttons for my graduation from grad school this year, but being a Texan, Irish, Scottish, for having lived in AZ for many years loving cats, collecting snails, and to honor friends and family.   There are buttons from my CQ stash as well.    Once those were sewn on I then wrote words on the alternate blocks that either I had come up with or that friends had said to describe me.   Overall this quilt went together quickly which is what i needed this summer.    It finished out at 17" wide by 31" long.

I also managed to finish off a couple of gifts early this summer.   The first was a quilted cover for a Nook for a birthday present for one of my best friends.    It was late, but that's pretty much how everything went this last school year.   The outer case is a drapery print in blues and the lining fabric is a old style book end print.  

The second gift I finished was for my niece who graduated from high school this year.   I made her an embellished towel set  to take to college with her this fall.   The set has a wash cloth and towel with a strip of fabric sewn on them.  The third piece in the set is a hand towel that has been made into a toiletry holder with spaces for a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.  The instructions that I used as a basis for the toiletry holder can be found here on The Organized Wife blog.   Thankfully this gift was done on time for me to head down to my niece's graduation.  =)

Next up for gifts - baby gifts for two ex-coworkers, and thinking ahead to a wedding gift that I need to start thinking about.   Thankfully the latter doesn't need to be finished till next summer sometime.   The baby gifts tho need to be worked on now.   And to easily finish both of them I really need to get my quilt frame set up so that I can use the long-arm to quilt.............but that won't happen until the end of September when my niece is back up here after finishing basic and advanced training for the Army National Guard.    Other plans in mind are to work on a quilt for my niece, but it definitely won't be done for when she finishes her training, especially since 2 wks from now school starts back up and I won't have a lot of time to sew anymore.....sigh.

Gratitudes:
1. For the funds that God provided to pay for new brakes on the Rav and the new sensor earlier in the summer.
2. For the amount of the commissioned work that I was able to accomplish this summer.

More Summertime Fun

At the end of last week I finally was able to get through all of the fabric in the first tote filled with fabric for commissioned garments that I've been working on this summer.   After all the ironing and cutting I ended up with 20 garments cut out  -- the three piles of tops on my cutting table shown to the right.   So far this week I've been able to finish 2 flannel dresses, 2 cotton blouses and 1 flannel top.     Next up is another flannel top from the pile.  =)

To give a perspective of how much fabric I've been trying to work through - the pic to the left shows the tote that I have left with fabrics for more commissioned garments.  Dimensions of the tote are 25" long by 19" tall by 18 " wide.   At this point if what I've recorded in a spreadsheet is correct, there is fabric in it for 28 more garments.  

Now that figure may be adjusted a little downward because there were a couple of pieces that my customer said she wanted two garments made from one piece of fabric, but I'm not sure there is enough fabric for that to actually happen.   And i'm not in the mood to buy fabric to add to it.    If there is something in the stash that will work, then maybe - but I'm not gonna be buying additional fabric.   Once I get to start cutting this fabric out, I should be able to make a dent in the pile fairly quickly because 2/3's of it is flannel.    I'll be happy to see this all used up and out of my hair.    If she sends me more fabric I plan to work on it after all of the 'old' fabric worked up first and everything sent back to her.

In other 'fun' stuff this summer, I'm continuing to go through boxes of stuff here in the house.    I have a lot of boxes that I have not been through for 4 yrs or longer now and it all needs to be gone through and sorted out.    I've also been going through some of my quilting stuff.   Have sorted out a pile of books, magazines, rulers, quilt kits & patterns that I'll be putting up for sale when I'm through with training.     I need to work through the fabric that is stored on one side of the living room yet so that I can reorganize it and pull stuff that I no longer want.   But that has not been started yet.    I do need to have that area cleaned up so that once my niece gets home she can help me put my quilt frame together.   =)

In thinking of projects that I'd like to do in the future, i'm thinking of making a new quilt for my niece who is in basic training for the Army reserve.   The one she has now and uses is showing the signs of being much loved - to pieces that is.  .....lol....  I'm thinking maybe a patriotic quilt for her might be a good possibility.   I also need to make a new quilted cover for a pillow that my granny made many years ago for me out of polyester scraps.    I had made a cover for it yrs ago when I first started quilting (way back in high school) and had used poly-cotton fabrics in it.   This past few months has seen the cover start to disintegrate and it literally is falling apart.   So I need to replace it.   Haven't decided what I want to do tho for it.    And i need to make a new cover for my ironing board as well.    the one that is on there just barely fits onto it.   I'm planning on still using it but covering over with a piece of pre-quilted fabric that I have.   I guess this should really be done before the others.  

Gratitudes -
1. Rainy, summer thunderstorms make for cooler summer weather.
2. Success in getting commissioned garments sewn up.